Methods for forming a trench silicide without gouging the silicon source/drain regions and the resulting devices are disclosed. Embodiments include forming first and second dummy gates, each with spacers at opposite sides thereof, on a substrate; forming eSiGe source/drain regions at opposite sides of the first dummy gate; forming raised source/drain regions at opposite sides of the second dummy gate; forming a silicon cap on each of the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions; forming an ILD over and between the first and second dummy gates; replacing the first and second dummy gates with first and second HKMG, respectively; forming a contact trench through the ILD into the silicon cap over each of the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions; and forming a silicide over the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method comprising: forming first and second dummy gates, each with spacers at opposite sides thereof, on a substrate; forming embedded silicon germanium (eSiGe) source/drain regions at opposite sides of the first dummy gate; forming raised source/drain regions at opposite sides of the second dummy gate; forming a silicon cap on each of the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions; forming an interlayer dielectric (ILD) over and between the first and second dummy gates; replacing the first and second dummy gates with first and second high-k/metal gates (HKMG), respectively; forming a contact trench through the ILD into the silicon cap over each of the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions; and forming a silicide over the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions.
2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising forming second spacers at opposite sides of each of the first and second dummy gates prior to forming the silicon cap.
3. The method according to claim 1 , comprising forming the silicon caps by epitaxially growing silicon on the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions concurrently.
4. The method according to claim 1 , comprising forming the contact trench by reactive ion etching (RIE).
5. The method according to claim 1 , comprising forming the silicide from nickel and the silicon cap.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first metal gate and eSiGe source/drain regions form a P-type field effect transistor (PFET), and the second metal gate and raised source/drain regions form an N-type field effect transistor (NFET).
7. The method according to claim 2 , comprising forming the second spacers to a width of 1 to 20 nanometers (nm).
8. A method comprising: forming first and second dummy gates, each with spacers at opposite sides thereof, on a substrate; forming embedded silicon germanium (eSiGe) source/drain regions at opposite sides of the first dummy gate; forming raised source/drain regions at opposite sides of the second dummy gate; forming an interlayer dielectric (ILD) over and between the first and second dummy gates; replacing the first and second dummy gates with first and second high-k/metal gates (HKMG), respectively; forming a contact trench through the ILD into each of the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions; forming a silicon cap on each of the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions; and forming a silicide over the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions.
9. The method according to claim 8 , comprising forming the silicon caps by epitaxially growing silicon on the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions concurrently.
10. The method according to claim 8 , comprising forming the contact trench by reactive ion etching (RIE).
11. The method according to claim 8 , comprising forming the silicide from nickel and the silicon cap.
12. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the first metal gate and eSiGe source/drain regions form a P-type field effect transistor (PFET), and the second metal gate and raised source/drain regions form an N-type field effect transistor (NFET).
13. A device comprising: first and second high-k/metal gates (HKMG), each with spacers at opposite sides thereof, on a substrate; embedded silicon germanium (eSiGe) source/drain regions at opposite sides of the first HKMG; raised source/drain regions at opposite sides of the second HKMG; a silicon cap on each of the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions; an interlayer dielectric (ILD) over and between the first and second HKMGs; a contact trench through the ILD into the silicon cap over each of the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions; second spacers on the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions, between the first spacers and the silicon caps; and a trench silicide over the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions.
14. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the second spacers have a width of 1 to 20 nanometers (nm).
15. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the silicon caps are formed of silicon epitaxially grown to a thickness of 1 to 20 nm.
16. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the trench silicide comprises nickel silicide (NiSi), formed with the silicon of the silicon caps.
17. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the first metal gate and the eSiGe source/drain regions form a P-type field effect transistor (PFET), and the second metal gate and raised source/drain regions form an N-type field effect transistor (NFET).
18. The device according to claim 13 , further comprising shallow trench isolation (STI) regions between the eSiGe and raised source/drain regions.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
December 4, 2014
March 28, 2017
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.